The Mayor of Bedford has published a draft version of a controversial review on Bedford Hospital’s future – against NHS England’s wishes.
The Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Sustainability and Transformation Plan – which will decide how the three hospitals work together in the future and could see frontline services axed – was submitted to the organisation in late October but officials decided not to make it public, despite requests from BoS.
The report states it has ‘no solutions’ to maintain care services across the region and will not draw up recommendations until March 2017.
The 47-page document also states it intends to make £42m ‘long term’ savings but only gives one example of how it intends to cut costs: £4.5m saved through a joint pathology service.
But it does not give details about which services will be affected or discuss controversial recommendations from the previous MK-Bedford Hospital review, which put Bedford’s maternity services under threat of being moved to Milton Keynes.
Full story in Bedfordshire on Sunday, 2 November 2016